The Return of a Restored Beloved Memorial

Missing memorial plaque

In November 2012 a bronze memorial plaque was discovered missing by hikers on Acadia National Park's Gorge Path.

 



Acadia NP photo

King and Stellpflug restoring plaque

Upon being told about it, the Park responded the memorial had been removed for restoration by Gary Stellpflug, trail foreman, and Robyn King, museum technician. They completed the restoration and returned the plaque last month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Original condition

Restored condition

The plaque's inscription reads:

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

LILIAN ENDICOTT FRANCKLYN
1891 - 1928
THIS TRAIL IS ENDOWED BY HER FRIENDS

Lilian Endicott Francklyn (1891-1928), born in Geneva, New York, was a daughter of Robert and Caroline Rees Seward. She was a descendant of William H. Seward, Abraham Lincoln‘s Secretary of State. She married international banker Reginald Gebhart Francklyn in London, England in 1923.

Trinity Church, Geneva,NY

Lilian Endicott Francklyn

In 1928, while visiting her mother in Geneva, Lilian died of a cerebral embolism in her eighth month of pregnancy, leaving behind her husband and four year-old daughter, Caroline Agnes, and three year-old son, Reginald Endicott. She is buried with her mother in the Seward plot at Fort Hill Cemetery, Auburn, New York.

Lilian’s memorial, installed about 1929, is on the Gorge Path between Cadillac and Dorr Mountains. One of the friends mentioned on the plaque was Louise Munroe. She and Lilian were debutantes at the same time in New York City. In 1929 Louise gave the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association $1,000 to endow the Gorge Path and install a bronze plaque in Lilian’s honor.

This is the second bronze plaque to be restored. The first restoration was the Jesup memorial in July 2011. It is located on the Jesup Path near its junction with the Kurt Diederich Climb at The Tarn's outflow.

Restoration of the memorials falls under an official mandate for Acadia NP to preserve its cultural history. There are 24 bronze and 2 slate memorial plaques in the park. In 2011 volunteers cleaned its 11 granite memorials and other historic stones to highlight and enhance their engravings.

GPS coordinates:

Francklyn memorial - N44° 21.904'  W068° 13.254'
Jesup memorial - N44° 21.512'  W068° 12.425'

Acadia National Park: Founded on Inspiration, Perseverance and Generosity

It is widely accepted that three individuals stand out as being responsible for the creation of Acadia National Park: Charles W. Eliot, George B. Dorr and John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Eliot attributed his idea for the formation of an organization to protect Mount Desert Island's natural resources for future generations to his son Charles, who had done exactly that for the people of Boston, MA. The organization Eliot Sr. inspired was the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations in 1901, which he served as president until his death in 1926. Eliot, a Bostonian and Harvard University's longest serving president, first came to Mount Desert Island in 1871, when he and his sons Charles and Samuel sailed their boat from Boston to Southwest Harbor and camped on Calf Island in Frenchman Bay. In 1881 he established his summer home in Northeast Harbor. There is a bronze memorial plaque for him on Eliot Mountain, formerly Asticou Mountain and renamed in his honor.

Dorr seized on Eliot's idea of preservation, was his vice-president on the HCTPR and dedicated his life to the establishment and development of Acadia NP. Called the founding father of Acadia NP, he was a son of wealthy Bostonians who came to MDI during the summer of 1868 and set up their home, Oldfarm, at Compass Harbor in Bar Harbor a few years later. An entrepreneurial graduate of Harvard, he launched a successful horticultural nursery and a granite quarrying business in Bar Harbor. Following the creation of the Sieur de Monts National Monument in 1916, Dorr became its superintendant, a position he held through the subsequent transitions to Lafayette NP in 1919 and Acadia NP in 1929, until his death in 1944. There is a bronze memorial plaque for him at Sieur de Monts located on the east base of Dorr Mountain, formerly Dry Mountain and renamed in his honor.

Rockefeller, philanthropist and son of the Cleveland, OH oil baron, believed strongly in preserving land for a park. He first came to MDI in 1893, while a student at Brown University. He returned to MDI in 1908 where his wife, Abby, gave birth to their son, Nelson, who would later become governor of NY and US vice president. In 1910 Rockefeller purchased and then expanded his Seal Harbor hilltop home, The Eyrie. Before his death in 1960 he had given over 11,000 acres of land to Acadia NP, helped finance and construct its 26-mile Park Loop Road, built a 53-mile network of carriage roads and donated 45 miles of those carriage roads, along with its 17 unique stone bridges and 2 beautiful gatehouses. The Rockefeller Archives Center states he gave over $3.5 million to Acadia NP. There is a bronze memorial plaque for Rockefeller on the Ocean Path near Otter Cliffs. But unlike the recognition accorded to Eliot and Dorr, no Acadia NP mountain is named for him. Yet, were it not for Rockefeller's generosity and his support to superintendant Dorr, Acadia NP would not be the cherished site it is today attracting over two million visitors each summer.

Kebo Mountain ridgeline viewed from Jesup memorial path

It would thus seem fitting for Acadia NP and the National Park Service to consider naming a mountain in honor of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. One possibility is on Kebo Mountain. There are two peaks on its popular ridgeline, which overshadows downtown Bar Harbor's southwest flank. The northern peak has been named "Kebo Mountain" since at least 1860. This summit location is a mistake, however, as the southern and unnamed peak of the mountain is higher by some 15 feet.*1 Even Benjamin DeCosta in his guide book of 1871 speaks of Kebo's "two well defined peaks."*2

In light of the upcoming celebration of the 100th anniversary of Acadia NP's 1916 founding, such a tribute is long overdue to an individual so crucial to the development of Acadia NP.*3

*Footnotes:

1 The higher southern peak was first suggested to me by Earl Brechlin, Bar Harbor resident and editor of the Mount Desert Islander newspaper. Subsequent hand-held GPS readings and Acadia NP's more sophisticated data confirm Mr. Brechlin's observation.

2 Rambles in Mount Desert by B.F. DeCosta, A.D.F. Randolph & Co., NY, 1871, p. 102.

3 Coincidentally 2016 is also the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, which was established by President Wilson in 1916 "…to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." (Excerpted from the Organic Act of 1916.)

GPS coordinates:

Northern peak - N44° 22.400'  W068° 13.105'
Southern peak - N44° 22.178'  W068° 13.089'
Dorr memorial - N44° 21.721'  W068° 12.466'
Eliot memorial - N44° 18.105'  W068° 16.427'
Rockefeller memorial - N44° 18.482'  W068° 11.345'

Acadia National Park's Little-Known Mountain

Between picturesque Eagle Lake and northerly scenic ponds in Acadia National Park on Maine's Mount Desert Island lies Brewer Mountain.

This 444' mountain has had a number of names. In 1874, for example, it was called "Interlaken Hill," a likely reference to the popular 19th century lake resort in the Swiss Alps. This name lasted until at least 1893. In 1896 it was changed to "Dan Brewers Mt" on the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association's Bates-Rand-Jaques Path Map of the Eastern Part of Mount Desert Island, which path map series continued the name until 1941, its last year of publication, as well as on the Bates-Rand-Jaques 1896 Map of Mount Desert Island. The 1922 Department of Interior map of Lafayette National Park (Acadia NP's predecessor) renamed it "Brewers Mt." The name was changed again on the Interior Dept.'s 1931 Acadia National Park map, when the letter 's' was dropped and it became simply "Brewer Mt."

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, the organization that maintains uniform geographic name usage for the U.S. Government, states the mountain was originally owned by Daniel Brewer. The USBGN carries it as "Brewer" mountain, the name it approved in 1928. Present-day commercial maps of Acadia NP show it as "Brewer Mtn." The gratis National Park Service map of Acadia NP has not depicted the mountain at all for the past 40+ years.

                                                     E.L. Allen photo, NY Public Library
Mountain House

Daniel Brewer owned another mountain, named Green Mountain. In 1866 he built the first hotel on it, the Mountain House, overlooking Bar Harbor from its prominent 1530' summit. He sold the hotel and 75 acres of the summit two years later to two sons and a third individual. The Mountain House ceased operations in 1882. A grander hotel replaced it the next year as part of the Green Mountain Railway Company enterprise, which featured a cog railroad from Eagle Lake to the summit. The enterprise failed a decade afterwards and the summit's last hotel was removed in 1896.

In 1908 Daniel's son Frank, executor of his will, conveyed the Green Mountain summit to the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations. The HCTPR was acquiring lands it would donate to the US Government and which would ultimately form Acadia NP. Green Mountain was renamed Cadillac Mountain in 1918. In 1939 Daniel's son Fred approached George Dorr, Acadia NP superintendant, for permission to install a bronze plaque in Daniel's honor on the former site of the Mountain House. Dorr favored the request for its historical import and recommended it to the NPS director in Washington, DC. The director denied the request out of concern for proliferation of plaques in the park and on grounds that commemoration of the mountain's first hotel was unimportant. Curiously and conversely the NPS had no issue commemorating Stephen Mather, its first director, seven years earlier with a bronze plaque on Cadillac's summit and in nearly every park in the country under its jurisdiction.

Brewer Mountain does not provide scenic views from its summit, but it is nonetheless interesting to explore. The mountain was quarried for its granite by Daniel's son Frank at least between 1905 and 1909. The results of the excavations remain and provide a historic look into the extensive quarrying activity that took place on MDI.

Quarries:

There are no maintained paths to the summit or quarry sites. Lacking the desire to hike up the mountain, one can see evidence of  Brewer Mountain quarrying by looking north from inside the Eagle Lake parking lot toward a granite ledge and wall, fronted by water, only several feet away. The map shows an adequate way to the summit and two quarry locations.

 

GPS coordinates:

Brewer Mountain

            Summit: N44° 22.981'  W068° 15.006'

            North quarry: N44° 22.858'  W068° 14.994'

            South quarry: N44° 22.790'  W068° 14.978'

Mountain House site: N44° 21.062'  W068° 13.565'

Mather memorial: N44° 21.148'  W068° 13.454'

 

Acadia National Park's Forsaken Lakes

In the northeast section of Acadia National Park near Hulls Cove are two idyllic bodies of fresh water named Lake Wood and Fawn Pond, which oddly the Park does not promote to the public.


Lake Wood

Fawn Pond

Lake Wood was once a favorite summer swimming venue and it has an interesting history. From the early 1890s Lake Wood provided a supply of "pure and wholesome water" to the village of Hulls Cove.*1  In the late 1890s a pavilion and dance hall were built, where at least on one occasion an orchestra performed at a dance and a dinner of steamed clams, sandwiches and coffee was served.*2  In the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps rehabilitated the lake by making its road passable, building a parking lot for 35 cars, removing snags and debris from the lake's bottom, anchoring a float for bathers, and cleaning and cutting the woods surrounding the lake making it "a veritable gem in its wooded setting."*3  After the Fire of 1947, which devastated eastern Mount Desert Island, the burnt trees were cut down and thrown into the lake and cordoned off about 100' from the beach. In the 1960s a lifeguard was employed at the beach. Lake Wood has been noted for such other amenities as male and female changing rooms at the beach and a diving board secured to a granite ledge.*4  These today are among the fading memories of an enjoyable era. Nevertheless, those who know of Lake Wood still enjoy its sandy beach, granite ledges and refreshing water.

The 17-acre Lake Wood was last privately owned by the Schermerhorn sisters, descendants of an old New York City Dutch family. They donated the lake to the Park. At the north end of the lake is a memorial to them, completed in October 1929, which states: In memory of Annie Cottenet Kane and Fanny Schermerhorn Bridgham who gave the lake and the surrounding land to Acadia National Park. Perley Pond, a granite cutter who operated a quarry on MDI and had a shop on Cottage Street in Bar Harbor, built the 26x5-foot granite bridge and inscribed the nearby boulder. Renowned landscape architect Beatrix Farrand designed the bridge, a plan approved by Park superintendant George Dorr in November, 1928.



                                                                                                                                            NPS-Acadia NP
Schermerhorn Memorial bridge

In 1990 a Bangor, ME newspaper ran a story about the Schermerhorn memorial being "recently uncovered by volunteers working on trails in the park."*5 

                                                                            Bangor Daily News
FOA volunteers at Lake Wood - 1990

 

 

 

The photo caption reads: Discussing the clearing of the Lake Wood trail are (from left) volunteers Ken Sergeson, George Buck and Friends of Acadia Director Duane Pierson. (NEWS Photo by Kathy Harbour)

 

The Schermerhorn memorial is the largest and was once the grandest in the Park. Sadly, due to neglect it is in disgraceful condition.



Schermerhorn Memorial today

An unmaintained path along the lake's west side has stepping stones in front of a granite outcropping at the water's edge. They are walkable at low water level and are similar to the stepping stones along the west side of The Tarn, south of Bar Harbor. That path was constructed from funds donated by Annie Schermerhorn in memory of her late husband John Kane.*6

Fawn Pond is near Lake Wood's southeast corner. It perhaps was another local swimming hole. The 4-acre pond was owned by Charles How, a Bostonian who came to Bar Harbor in 1870. He saw the potential to attract others to MDI and began acquiring land for development. He was among the incorporators in 1891 of the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association, an organization founded to help ensure the safety, health and beauty of the village. In 1904 How gave Fawn Pond to the BHVIA. Two years later the BHVIA installed a bronze memorial plaque in his honor on a granite face at the pond's north edge. It reads: This tablet commemorates the gift by Charles T. How of the Fawn Pond and forty acres of land to the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association 1906. Secluded Fawn Pond is a short walk from Lake Wood by way of two converging unmaintained paths.



How Memorial

Lake Wood and Fawn Pond are accessible via Lake Wood Pond Road off the Crooked Road 0.7 miles west of Route 3 at Hulls Cove. Parking and restrooms are available. The Schermerhorn memorial lies about 250 feet northwest of the beach. The How memorial is to the southeast, less than half a mile from the beach.*7

Note: As of this date, the Park has not yet opened Lake Wood Pond Road to cars.

*Footnotes:

1 Bar Harbor Record, December 1, 1892, p.4.

2 Bar Harbor Record September 21, 1898, p.5.

3 Bar Harbor Times, March 28, 1934, p.7.

4 I am thankful to Mike Alley, once a nearby resident and youthful swimmer, for his Lake Wood recollections.

5 "Lake Wood monument, foot bridge echo a forgotten past." Bangor Daily News, October 2, 1990.

6 In addition to the Lake Wood donation, Annie and John and Fanny and her husband, Samuel Bridgham, also donated 467 acres of Acadia NP's Kebo Mountain to the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations, the seminal organization that created the Park from such donations.

7 GPS locations of the Schermerhorn memorial (N44° 24.648' W068° 16.246') and the How memorial (N44° 24.416' W068° 15.890').

Unexpected Finds in a National Park

It can be an interesting experience hiking in a national park that is the result of conveyed lands upon which people once lived and businesses operated. Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, ME is one of them. An observant hiker can often see old roads, paths and even homesteads. Their discoveries can be exhilarating.

One such recent discovery was a tombstone, surrounded by woods and bordered by a wetland to the southeast. Coming across a tombstone in such a remote location causes the hiker to halt. Questions immediately arise. What is a grave doing in such a lonely, out-of-the-way spot? Who is the person buried there?

Some answers follow.

The tombstone, now separated from its base and once bordered by sunken 7-foot tall granite posts at the corners and enclosed with chain, states that buried there is George Newman, who died on April 21, 1887 at the age of 92 years and 5 months. By examining such documents as local newspapers, deeds, censuses, maps, genealogies and vital records, we learn a few things about him and his family.

George Newman gravesite

George, born in 1794 in nearby Gouldsboro, was the owner of the property where his grave is located.  The property abutted the McFarland property to the west, after which family the McFarland Field and McFarland Hill are named.*1  He married widow Mary H. (Higgins) Fitzgerrell (1811-1898) of Bar Harbor on July 28, 1839. They had six children, three sons and three daughters, all born in Bar Harbor between 1840 and 1852.

George Newman tombstone

The oldest son, Henry H. (1845-1864), a private in both E Company, 26th Regiment, Maine Infantry and L Company, Maine Heavy Artillery, died in the Civil War. He is buried in Salisbury Cove Cemetery beneath a military headstone.

The middle son, George Warren Newman, born in 1850, continued to own the father's property, where he operated a dairy farm and from which he delivered milk.*2

George W. married Amanda Higgins in 1878; she died in 1906. He then married widow Emily (Richardson) Sargent in 1907. She died in 1917 and George W. died two years later. He and both wives are buried in Hillside Cemetery in Mount Desert, where the Higgins, Richardson and Sargent families are buried. Apparently having no children by Amanda and Emily, George W. left his properties to Alice Rodick, his will's executor. She subsequently conveyed the properties during the 1920s to George B. Dorr and John D. Rockefeller, Jr.  Dorr at the time was superintendant of Lafayette National Park (Acadia NP's predecessor). He and Rockefeller were actively acquiring land for the purpose of expanding the newly created park's boundaries.

Newman lot on 1881 MDI map

The youngest son, Asa Willis Newman, married Clara Hamor Rodick in 1876. They divorced in 1880. The following year Clara married Linwood E. Parsons; she and Linwood are buried in Hillside Cemetery, Hulls Cove.

Nothing at present is known of the three Newman daughters, Martha Jane (b. 1840), Charlotte (b. 1842), and Eleanor (b. 1847). Perhaps an interested reader will pick it up from here and pursue the histories of these women.

Today George Newman's isolated grave sits on Acadia NP property.*3  Should you go to the grave, be respectful of it and mindful of the laws protecting it. And leave no trace of your visit.

*Footnotes:

1 For another reference to McFarland Field and Hill, see my blog post Skiing on Mount Desert Island -- a Look Back, February 24, 2014.

2 It is poignant to note George W.'s milk route, along with seven cows, young stock and three horses, were advertised for sale within a few months of his death. Bar Harbor Times, December 3, 1919, p.4.

3 Newman grave GPS coordinates: N44° 22.674'  W068° 15.473'.

Skiing on Mount Desert Island -- a Look Back

There is an absence today of downhill skiing on Mount Desert Island and Acadia NP. Years ago this kind of skiing was done by the venturesome wherever they could find a snow-covered mountain slope or trail. Downhill schussing venues included the South Face Trail of Western Mountain; the north, east and south slopes and old carriage road of Cadillac Mountain, and the summit road after its opening in 1932; the upper slopes of Champlain Mountain; and a few trails around the Bowl and Beehive.*1  Another location, but far less risky, was the slope on "Bunker Hill" on the east side of Kebo Valley Golf Course.



Sargent F. Collier

McFarland Field rope tow

This type of chancy skiing changed somewhat in 1936 with the establishment of a formal downhill enterprise on McFarland Hill in Bar Harbor. It was opposite the entrance to today's Acadia NP's headquarters off Eagle Lake Road/Route 233. The Mount Desert Island Outing Club, formed in 1935, established a rope tow and a few trails on the southeast and west sides of the hill. This rope tow, the first in Maine, started operating in December 1936. It was the highest in the state and at 1350 feet the second longest. It ran from the foot of McFarland Field to the hill's summit. The lower half of the hill was lighted for night skiing.*2 "From the summit a trail and 'semi-open' slope will wind down to connect with the top of Blanchard Field [possibly the field just east of McFarland Field], providing a fast, steep run for those who wish to take it straight …"*3 


 

McFarland Field rope tow area today

The devastating October "Fire of 1947" swept over McFarland Hill and put a temporary halt to skiing. It destroyed the cabins, the motor unit and tow rope and other equipment. The MDI Outing Club immediately planned to reopen the hill for skiing that winter via fund-raising dances for a new tow and hut.

In 1967 Aldene Robbins and Roy McFarland purchased the McFarland Hill enterprise from the MDI Outing Club, as well as the land from Pearl McFarland, Roy's father, and operated it for about three years. The rope tow was on the east side of the hill and powered by an electric motor at the top. Huts were at the top and bottom and manned by observers for safety. Also at the bottom was a lodge with a fireplace where people could warm up and get food and hot chocolate. Unlike in previous times, there was no night skiing. Parking was along Eagle Lake Road.*4 Skiing on McFarland Hill effectively ended when they ceased operations.

What's left of this outdoors enterprise reminds us of the thrills and enjoyment that were had by skiers and onlookers. Sharp eyes will discover at the top of the field's eastern tree line a concrete wall and nearby circuit breaker box where the rope tow motor was. Along the tow line they'll see an electrical ceramic insulator, pulleys, cog wheels, and a support cable. The lodge is still there, but it is today a private residence.

Nowadays downhill skiers must head off island. Those who stay enjoy the unrushed but wonderfully scenic activity of cross-country skiing. A Park handout, Winter in Acadia, tells us "Winter at Acadia National Park is a magical season. The slower pace provides opportunities for solitude, as well as recreational activities in a spectacular coastal setting. … and in years with adequate snowfall, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling are popular activities."

Pondering the Cadillac Mountain downhill skiers of years gone by, Aldene Robbins, the 1967 McFarland Hill ski facility co-entrepreneur, opined recently, "They likely attempted that only once!" And that's probably the reason why skiing on MDI's McFarland Hill was so popular.

McFarland Field today looking north to McFarland Hill

*Footnotes:

1 These downhill venues are mentioned in numerous Bar Harbor Times articles of the MDI Outing Club. The Western Mountain South Face Trail refers to today's Bernard Mountain Trail. Re Cadillac Mountain, the north and south slopes are today's North and South Ridge Trails; the east slope refers to the now unmaintained East Ridge Trail from the summit to the Featherbed; and the old carriage road refers to the historic buckboard road that once ran from Eagle Lake Road to the summit.
2 Bar Harbor Times, December 19, 1940, p.1.
3 Bar Harbor Times, September 12, 1940, p.1.
4 A special thanks to Messrs. McFarland and Robbins for sharing their recollections with me.

Horse Trough Memorial in Acadia NP -- a Mystery

In my September blog post about Edith Bowdoin, I mentioned other horse troughs on Mount Desert Island.*1  One was the trough located in Acadia National Park about 900' west of the Great Head parking lot on what once was the Satterlee estate that contained Great Head and Sand Beach.*2  Here is more information about that now forgotten horse trough.

Sometime in late 1901 Ellen Sever Hale, widow of Boston lawyer George Silsbee Hale, commissioned a horse trough to be built and sited on Schooner Head Road. In 1902 it was placed on Hale property just south of the outflow of the marsh at the southeastern base of Champlain Mountain. The Hales' summer home was on Schooner Head. Their property extended westerly to Champlain Mountain.

George Dorr, a founder and first superintendant of Acadia National Park, donated the granite from which it was built from his Bear Brook Quarry, which was located below today's Park Loop Road parking lot for Champlain Mountain's North Ridge Trail.

Mrs. Hale wished to remember her son from her first marriage to Rev. Theodore Tebbets. She had engraved on the trough the initials J S T and the year 1901. Her son, John Sever Tebbets, died in 1901.

The trough was designed by Beatrix Jones.*3  Its top was a single piece of granite four feet square and one foot thick hollowed out to form a large basin. It sat on granite supports that stood on a six foot square, one foot thick granite base.

When and why the trough was moved from Schooner Head Road to its present location on the Satterlee estate is a mystery.

It is interesting to note, however, starting with the 1906 Path Map of the Eastern Part of Mount Desert Island through to the 1941 path map there is depicted the "Stone Horse Trough" on the west side of Schooner Head Road just south of the same marsh outflow as the Tebbets trough. The 1942 Topographic Map [of] Acadia National Park and Vicinity doesn't depict the Stone Horse Trough but does show a nearby entrance road and building off Schooner Head Road.*4  On these path maps the Stone Horse Trough was at the start of the now, long abandoned Yellow Path.*5  This path began at Schooner Head Road just north of the aforementioned entrance road and building and ran west to the base of Champlain Mountain, skirting the southern edge of the marsh. Based on the timeframe and proximity of the Stone Horse Trough and the Tebbets horse trough, they were likely one and the same.

1917 Path Map of the Eastern Part of Mount Desert Island
Red arrow #1: location of Stone Horse Trough & Yellow Path
Red arrow #2: current location of Tebbets horse trough

The Tebbets trough was moved after 1941. In1949 Eleanor Morgan Satterlee donated the estate to Acadia NP. Perhaps it was during this period the horse trough was relocated to its present site. It would be interesting to know if a Hale descendant authorized the move of this family memorial, as the land it was on was and still is privately owned. The full mystery is yet to be solved.

*Footnotes:

1 Edith Bowdoin and Her Horse Troughs, September 8, 2013.

2 Horse trough GPS coordinates: N44° 19.991' W068° 10.931'

3 Beatrix Jones, a prominent landscape architect who later married historian Max Farrand, was living at the time with her parents at Reef Point, their Bar Harbor waterfront estate.

4 Just the building's cellar remains. GPS coordinates: N44° 20.507'  W068° 10.860'

5 A Path Guide of Mount Desert Island Maine (pub. 1915), p. 12 (d), states: "Just beyond Schooner Head (1 hour 15 min. from village) take the Yellow Path at the Stone Horse Trough …" But in Walks on Mount Desert Island Maine (1928)  Harold Peabody, when referring to the Yellow Path, says in Walk 4, p. 26: "… trail which is now closed, …" The Yellow Path is shown on the 1928 path map, but not on subsequent path maps. It was likely closed due to wetness from the marsh, a problem identified by path and mapmaker Herbert Jaques back in 1896.

The Emery Path -- Another Historic Gem in Acadia NP

Among the architecturally interesting and historic hikes in Acadia National Park are those in its Sieur de Monts section. Here there are seven memorial paths, each established in the early 1900s by a spouse or relative to honor a loved one. The Emery Path is one of them. It is accessed just behind the Sieur de Monts spring house and is discernible by its ascending stone steps and nearby trail post. A half mile in length, the Emery Path passes the Homans Path on its north side. It continues to the junction of the Schiff Path up to the Dorr Mountain summit and the Kurt Diederich Climb path down to the junction of the Kane, Jesup and Beachcroft (Smith) Paths at The Tarn. Taking the Kurt Diederich Climb down provides a nice 1 1/4-mile loop back to the hike's start at the spring house via the Jesup Path.

 

The Turrets

The Turrets entrance hallway

John Josiah Emery, for whom the path is named, was born in Ohio in 1837 of parents who had emigrated from England in the 1830s. He became wealthy from real estate and inheritance.*1 He and his two brothers had significant investments in the development of Cincinnati's commercial and residential real estate market. In 1892 he married Minnesota-born Lela Alexander (1864-1953) and in 1895 they built their Bar Harbor summer cottage, The Turrets, on four waterfront acres off Eden Street.*2  The granite, fortress-like mansion was designed by Bruce Price, the NY architect of the Le Chateau Frontenac hotel in Quebec, Canada.*3  In 1896, after retiring from his Cincinnati businesses, the Emery family moved to Manhattan. John continued his involvement in Bar Harbor, where he was a member of the Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association's Roads and Paths committee under chairman Herbert Jaques and with notable co-members Waldron Bates, George Dorr and Beatrix Farrand.*4

The Turrets today

 In 1908 he died of pneumonia at The Turrets, leaving his wife and five children ages 4 to 14. He was buried with his parents and brothers in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati. A later burial included his youngest daughter Audrey (1904-1971). Among the bequests in his will Emery left $20K to the Children's Hospital of the Episcopal Church of Cincinnati, besides the land he had donated for it in the mid 1880s. He also left $200K and his valuable artworks to the Cincinnati Museum Association, now called the Cincinnati Art Museum.

His wife Lela provided the funds to build the Emery Path, which was completed in 1916 as a memorial to him. It is an amazing adventure over granite steps and staircases across the lower east side of Dorr Mountain.

 

                                  Penobscot Marine Museum photo*5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These old and current photographs (above) show an intricate granite staircase built inside a cliffside gap on the Emery Path.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is here where this prominent photograph was taken of George Dorr, a founder of Acadia NP and its first superintendent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hikers should keep an eye out for two granite benches nearby that were installed for rest and scenic views of the Great Meadow, Champlain Mountain and Frenchman Bay.

*Footnotes:

1 Emery's father had established a candle manufacturing plant in Cincinnati and developed the dripless candle. He died tragically from an accidental 5-storey fall from a catwalk in his plant into a vat of boiling oil.
2. The construction of The Turrets wasn't Emery's first time in Bar Harbor. He was there at least by 1881, when he stayed at the Rodick House hotel, and continued to visit Bar Harbor thereafter. Bar Harbor Mount Desert Herald, July 17, 1881, p.2.
3 The Turrets is now a campus administrative building of the College of the Atlantic.
4 Bar Harbor Record, July 25, 1896, p.1.
5 The Penobscot Marine Museum's photograph collection can be accessed here. 

GPS coordinates:

Emery Path start - N44° 21.695'  W068° 12.513'
The Turrets - N44° 23.684'  W068° 13.201'